Thursday, August 17, 2017

I read onThe Hollywood Reporter a few hours ago that Lucasfilm is in talks with Oscar-nominated director Stephen Daldry (of 2000's Billy Elliot and 2002's The Hours) to write and helm a Star Wars spin-off flick that would focus on none other than Obi-Wan Kenobi. No script has yet been written for this installment, so it's too early to say if Ewan McGregor will reprise the role that he made his own in The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones and Revenge of Sith more than a decade ago. Presumably, this would be the Star Wars standalone flick that is set to be released in 2020. We'll see. We'll also see if this movie completely takes place on Tatooine if it's set after the events of Episode III and before A New Hope. Though perhaps Mr. Daldry and Lucasfilm will take a creative gamble by having Obi-Wan briefly leave Tatooine (and young Luke Skywalker) to take on an unknown menace off-planet? We'll see again.

PS: The title for this movie should, as mentioned in the subject line above, be called The Jedi Master: A Star Wars Story. Predictable, but awesome.

Thursday, July 27, 2017

Just thought I'd share this cool concept art of Kylo Ren's personal spaceship, the TIE Silencer, and these two new promo pics of Rey (Daisy Ridley) in her new hairdo and Jedi garb for Star Wars: The Last Jedi. The TIE Silencer image has been around for over a week, but these Rey pics are new to me. Pretty cool. Anyways, only 140 days till The Last Jedi hits theaters here in the U.S. (on December 15). Happy Thursday!

Tuesday, July 18, 2017

I just found out earlier this morning that Andy Muschietti, director of the upcoming It movie, has signed on to helm Sony's Robotech live-action film. It (as in It, not Robotech) hasn't arrived in theaters yet, but the trailer makes it (as in It, not— Nevermind) look really good, so I have confidence that Muschietti will do a commendable job bringing Rick Hunter, Lisa Hayes, Max Sterling and Minmay to life (assuming, of course, that he casts some Asian actors for this project; Minmay's real name is Ling Ming-mei, fyi). If Michael Bay can bring giant fighting robots to life in a big way with the Transformers franchise, then there's no way that the sight of live-action Industrial Light & Magic or Weta-rendered Veritech Fighters flying away from the SDF-1 to wage battle against the Zentradi can't finally be seen on the big screen... That is all.

Oh wait, one last thing: Have composer Michael Giacchino score the music for the film. I'm interested to hear his iteration of the Robotech theme! Carry on.

Tuesday, July 11, 2017

Even thoughNew Warriors will be a TV series and not a feature film, it's cool to imagine the possibilities in terms of how Disney will have this upcoming show cross over with other Marvel programs and even the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) itself. In the comic books, Squirrel Girl (to be played by Milana Vayntrub) mingled with Luke Cage(played by Mike Colter) and Jessica Jones(portrayed by Krysten Ritter)...so it's not far-fetched to think that Marvel would use its Disney-provided resources to have Vayntrub's character interact with the title characters played by Colter and Ritter in their respective Netflix series. And MCU-wise, Samuel L. Jackson and Jaimie Alexander did, after all, reprise their roles as Nick Fury and Lady Sif in Marvel's Agents of SHIELD a few seasons ago.

In regards to the MCU, it would be absolutely awesome if Marvel president Kevin Feige incorporated certain characters (RE: Squirrel Girl) from New Warriors to the movies themselves. (Although we'll overlook the fact that the Marvel flicks have so far refused to acknowledge Agent Phil Coulson being brought back from the dead after the first Avengers film to star in Agents of SHIELD.) Squirrel Girl defeated the likes of Galactus and Thanos in the comic books—so it would be cool to see her appear in any of the next two Avengers movies (though 2018's Infinity War has been in production for quite some time now, so it might obviously be too late to incorporate Squirrel Girl in that one). Or at the very least, add some heavy star-wattage to New Warriors by having Robert Downey Jr. do a one-episode cameo as Tony Stark on the show. Squirrel Girl did meet Iron Man in her earlier appearances in the comic books...and even stole two of his armored suits (one for her, the other for her trusty squirrel companion Tippy-Toe) to fly to the Moon and fight Galactus! So the gist of this paragraph? Squirrel Girl + Iron Man suit = Awesome.

I'm sure that New Warriors will be another successful Marvel show like Luke Cage, Jessica Jones and Daredevil have been. (I'm not so sure about Iron Fist.) But it doesn't hurt to daydream a little and see such a spunky character as Squirrel Girl appear on the big screen and fighting alongside her fellow Avengers as they take on Thanos and company. And preferably, she dons the Iron Man suit in an MCU flick like she did in the comic book panels shown below. Of course, her live-action Iron Man suit would look much, much cooler than this illustrated version. That is all.

Wednesday, May 24, 2017

Just thought I'd share these awesome new images, taken by renowned photographer Annie Leibovitz, that were released online today revealing characters old and new who will appear in this December's Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Can't wait to pick up my own copy of this Vanity Fair issue at the bookstore next week! The issue hits newsstands in New York and Los Angeles on June 1 (I live in L.A. County, woohoo), and arrives in stores nationwide on June 6. Can't wait!

Sunday, April 16, 2017

I was walking back to my car after watching The Fate of the Furious at the theater a few hours ago when I saw this cool cloud formation lurking above the San Gabriel Mountains here in Los Angeles County. Pretty awesome... It reminds me of the 15-mile-wide alien destroyers in the 1996 hit film Independence Day. Where's Jeff Goldblum and Bill Pullman when you need 'em? But not Will Smith. If you saw last year's Independence Day: Resurgence, you'd know why. God, that sequel broke my heart—for all the wrong reasons.

As for The Fate of the Furious, just like the four previous Fast and the Furious movies, it was ridiculously awesome! Lots of crazy action sequences... My favorite line of the film was the one from Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) to Deckard (Jason Statham): "I'm gonna knock your teeth so far down your throat, you're gonna need to stick a toothbrush up your ass to brush 'em!"

Friday, April 14, 2017

"I only know one truth. It's time for the Jedi...to end." Let's hope that that's not the case as Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) speaks for the first time in the trailer for this December's Star Wars: The Last Jedi. The 2-minute preview was unveiled at Star Wars Celebration in Orlando earlier today—with Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy, Episode VIII director Rian Johnson and stars Daisy Ridley (Rey), John Boyega (Finn), Hamill as well as newcomer Kelly Marie Tran (Rose) on-hand to discuss what to expect in the next installment of Disney's Star Wars sequel trilogy. As per tradition, here are screenshots from the trailer (plus the poster above that was handed to all the lucky attendees who watched The Last Jedi panel in Orlando a few hours ago) plus the YouTube version of it at the very bottom of this entry. Only 244 days to go before we see the Resistance take on the First Order on the big screen once more!

Monday, April 3, 2017

Can't wait to stop by Best Buy tomorrow to pick up my copy of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story on DVD! The release of the Star Wars spin-off film on home video will come just 9 days before the start of the Star Wars Celebration in Orlando...which ushers in Disney's marketing campaign for this December's The Last Jedi. It should be on April 13 that Lucasfilm chief Kathleen Kennedy and Episode VIII director Rian Johnson debut the first trailer for the next saga flick at the Florida fan expo. But in the meantime, I can't wait to see Darth Vader's rampage in all its 1080p HDTV glory at home sometime this week. Gonna randomly conclude this entry with Chirrut Îmwe's "I am one with the Force. The Force is with me"...

Wednesday, March 22, 2017

I watched the horror flick that was written by James Gunn (of Guardians of the Galaxy fame) at the theater today, and just have a few quick observations about it: 1.) Mike Milch (played by The Newsroom's John Gallagher Jr.) is totally badass... 2.) And so is Leandra Flores (played by Emerald City's Adria Arjona). *Thinks about the film's climax* Leandra, nooooo!3.)Who the hell would take a job that requires having a mysterious chip placed inside the back of their head? A red flag right there, folks. 4.) The Belko Experiment is this decade's Saw movie—though I never watched any of the Saw flicks (nor do I intend to), and 5.) Orion Pictures still exists?

So what's my verdict on The Belko Experiment, you ask? Well... It's blood-churning and it's bloody awesome! I can't wait for the sequel— You know that the final shot in this film is hinting at one. (Like The Purge movies, Belko's sequel can obviously focus on other folks who survived this hideous, violent experiment.) Carry on!

Monday, February 27, 2017

Congratulations to the cast and crew of Moonlight after (eventually) winning Best Picture at the 89th Annual Academy Awards last night! Even though her movie didn't win the top prize after some goofball handed Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway the wrong envelope to read, it is awesome that Emma Stone won Best Actress for her performance as Mia Dolan in La La Land[which also won Best Director (for Damien Chazelle), Original Score, Original Song, Cinematography and Production Design]. Along with Best Picture, Moonlight also took home statuettes for Best Adapted Screenplay and Supporting Actor...for Mahershala Ali in his role as Juan, the Cuban crack dealer. In regards to the other acting categories, Viola Davis won Best Supporting Actress for her role as Rose Lee Maxson in Fences and Casey Affleck won Best Actor for his performance as Lee Chandler in Manchester By The Sea.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story lost Best Visual Effects to fellow Disney film The Jungle Book(as predicted) and lost Best Sound Mixing to Mel Gibson's World War II epic Hacksaw Ridge...which also won an award for Best Film Editing. The sci-fi hit Arrival won an Oscar for Best Sound Editing, while the NASA biopic Hidden Figures unfortunately came away empty-handed. Warner Bros' Suicide Squad won the Oscar for Best Makeup and Hairstyling, while its fellow comic book flick Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice "won" four awards at the Razzies the night before.

Last night's ceremony was very memorable. Here's hoping that the Jimmy Kimmel-Matt Damon feud continues (assuming, of course, that Kimmel will be re-invited to host the Oscars again), Moana's Auli'i Cravalho will get to do more Oscar-nominated songs and sing them live during the Academy Awards, and that next year's Best Picture winner won't be revealed after the wrong film is announced. Oh, and that Emma Stone will turn down roles where she is cast as an Asian. Yes, I remember that movie Aloha. Moonlight won Best Picture one year after the film Spotlight took home the top prize at the Academy Awards. Expect the upcoming Kevin Sorbo flick Let There Be Light, which gets released this Christmas, to make waves at the Oscars next March. Carry on!